UKSaabs

Hi Guys, First readers ride thread on here My names Daniel, i'm from Rugby in warwickshire, 27 and work for ZF Services (Sachs clutches)
After having a petrol Seat Ibiza Cupra for 3 yrs, the time came for me to save up some money and move out of home, and also clear some debts..... The car was the quickest car i'd owned and real good fun.... Full stage 2 software resulted in 249bhp + 289lbft of torque. Strut braces, coil overs and 25mm rear spacers meant it handled pretty damn good when on track at cadwell park

Anyways, i sold the cupra to my mum and purchased the Saab from Ebay on 24.12.2010 for the measly sum of £599......
Its a 1999 T reg in silver SE spec with the 2.0l LPT engine.
It had a full saab service history with extensive amounts of stamps and receipts. Mileage was 196k miles with 2 previous owners.
When i purchased it it had some issues selecting gear, mainly 3rd gear. Working for SACHS this wasn't a problem for me. I had the car over christmas and then on NYE after coming off the m6 i couldn't select gears... it wouldn't disengage.

I got a clutch and new CSC from work, sourced a 2nd hand gearbox from ebay and had this all fitted. The clutch was the original clutch, and still had plenty of wear in it.... The torsion damper spring had broken up on the driven plate and a lump had got stuck under the pressure plate when the clutch pedal was depressed.


I noticed that the car was a tad slow also after driving it.... of course it will be slow compared to the cupra, however this was seriously slow. I checked the net and found that the actuator rod is a common failure on these cars..... Opened the bonnet and the actuator rod had come off the turbo. It was a real pain to try to move the wastegate arm to the correct position so i just left it. This got sorted when i had the car serviced in november last year.

All was fine for the next 3 months........ then the car hesitated starting. It would start then cut out. Then it wouldnt start at all! flip
Again searching the net i found that it was most likely the Fuel pump.... up come the rear seats, and with 2 pieces of wood, WHACK! the car then started and was ok for a week.... then no matter how much you would hit the fuel pump, it was finished! not good when you've just filled up with fuel in Sainsbury's with a cue of traffic behind you!

Fuel pump was sourced off ebay for £25 and fitted and touch wood is still ok now

27th of july 2011 - She passed 200k miles :-O


Car was fine then, apart from being slow, and not having very good fuel consumption.... <30mpg combined
Was used as a dumping car, but was also very useful for when i did valeting at weekends. All my stuff can go straight in the boot and then i still have the back seats free too!
Was also used to tow a small trailer -

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Was - Stg3 9-5 LPT Estate now MY04 ST220 :D:D:D

A few small things have been purchased for the car -
Aero Wipers to the front
Aero Front and rear Bumpers + side skirts off ebay - £70
Ash tray for the rear door - Ebay £5
Black front bumper ( only purchased for the lower fog lights, which it never came with so will be up in the for sale section this weekend)
NSF Head lamp wiper motor

Non of the above bar the wipers and ash tray have been fitted.

Car when i got it -

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Was - Stg3 9-5 LPT Estate now MY04 ST220 :D:D:D

Nothing much more was done, apart from thinking about selling it and getting an Audi RS6........... however, becoming a daddy for the first time kinda put a stop to that, mainly due to the running costs of the things! 15mpg max, 1k for front discs and pads, high tax..... not the sort of costs i can afford when child care will cost £900 when the mrs comes back to work.
Then last week the MOT was due on the old girl.......... the car not the mrs
I was contemplating selling the car still and possibly getting a 9-3SS Aero. However, i'd just spent the best part of £200 having a service, and new disc and pads all round, inc handbrake shoes. So instead of buying just new tyres ( OSR had 2 flat spots on it) and the rest were down pretty low i thought sod it, did a bit of research and purchased the following.....

May not be to everyone's liking.... i'd have preferred the SRI alloys however these were the right price..........
Vectra C GSI 17" wheels, with good tyres all round
I then carried on searching ebay for a new fog light as mine had been smashed since i had it.... so i found one, and then proceeded to ask the seller if he had the following :
Aero TD04 Turbo
Red Injectors
Aero Exhaust Manifold
Cobra Tip
Aero Down pipe
2nd hand SID display with all working pixles ( mines ok, just 1 or 2 missing pixles)
Was expecting the price to be pretty high for this little lot................... £235 for everything inc delivery.......................
As you can imagine i've snapped his hand off!
I'm currently in talks with Karl to get it mapped ( stage 3) once i get the 3" decat from the member on here..... 6 week wait at present!
Along with this little lot i'm currently looking for a cat back exhaust too, preferably 3" stainless steel. I was all set to get the maptun catback, but after reading and seeing the pics on here, there isn't a chance ill be getting one of them.
Car's passed it's MOT with no advisories to my knowledge. I'd also asked my garage to check the car underneath as its had an oil leak for a while. The mrs isn't happy with it dripping oil on our new block paving either. I thought it may be that the sump wasn't sealed right previously as this was removed at 178k to have the sump cleaned out. However, after jetting the bottom of the engine, the oil leak is coming from the head gasket :'( not good. So i've decided to get all the hardware fitted whilst the head gasket is getting done. Was gonna scrap the car, but knowing the history and that it drives ok still i'd rather spend £500 on it for this to be sorted and know it's gonna be fine, than buy something else and it cost me even more money.
Ill leave the red injectors out till i go to mark to get it mapped. Quite excited tbh to see what it's like
I'll probably give the suspension an overhaul in the not too distant future too, as the shocks and springs look original too..... Possibly thinking of new gas shocks all round from work, inc top mounts etc, and then some lowering springs.
Ill fit the bumpers and side skirts too soon and give it a good valet once its all sorted looking forward to getting the car back now though.
Thanks for looking here
Dan

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Was - Stg3 9-5 LPT Estate now MY04 ST220 :D:D:D

Who's Mark?

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9-5 666 - the number of the baaS
9-3 'vert

saabnoobtune@gmail.com
New and improved with added Tech2

God knows lol.... it was late and I was trying to feed my two month old lol..... will edit it I meat your good self lol

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Was - Stg3 9-5 LPT Estate now MY04 ST220 :D:D:D

You keep your meat away from my good self.

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9-5 666 - the number of the baaS
9-3 'vert

saabnoobtune@gmail.com
New and improved with added Tech2

LMFAO oh dear god!
You know what i meant lol

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Was - Stg3 9-5 LPT Estate now MY04 ST220 :D:D:D

_________________
9-5 666 - the number of the baaS
9-3 'vert

saabnoobtune@gmail.com
New and improved with added Tech2

Well the turbo, exhaust manifold, red injectors and injector rail, SID, OSF fog light have turned up. Hopefully the temporary TD04 down pipe will turn up tomorrow. Head gasket is currently getting worked on. Today i also ordered 3m of 4mm and 6mm black silicon hose to replace all the existing slightly old and perished hoses on the old girl, turbo bolt fitting kit and inlet and return water feeds for the TD04 all from Neo's.
Can't wait to get the car back.... driving a 1.6 rover 25 at the mo is crap!
Also counting down the days/weeks for the 3" downpipe to be made from Al, and then the car will be going to MIJ performance in Walsall to get a custom 3" cat back system and the decat will be fitted at the same time. Once fitted ill pop across to Karl to get some stage 3 mapping and fit the Aero Red injectors
Other things in the plan for the future will be as follows
Maptun recirc DV
lowering springs and new shocks all round
maybe new control arms all round too (will need to check stock at work to see what we have in)
possibly maptun 4 pot conversion

the shell of the car isn't too bad. Slight amount of rust on the nsr arch but nothing major..... everything that is fitted can always be transferred should i find a better shell

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Was - Stg3 9-5 LPT Estate now MY04 ST220 :D:D:D

Well got some good news today, The head gasket hasn't gone..... however they did say that a sensor was leaking oil out around the seal ( i forget the name of it) and that there were 2 engine mount bolts loose. Apart from that, with the new sensor in its been good as gold. Turbo should have been fitted today so hopefully i can pick the old girl up tomorrow after i've handed in my uni assignment

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Was - Stg3 9-5 LPT Estate now MY04 ST220 :D:D:D

Was it the oil light switch mate ?? prone for leakage

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.........Loving but still hating Saab's in equal amounts most days !!!

Aye that sounds like the one...... however, the did an oil and filter change for me.... i purchased some oil through a supplier and they used comma's website to check which oil to use, which suggested 15W30 semi synthetic oil............. however, from reading on here it should be only 5w30 fully synthetic..... so tomorrow i got new oil and filter coming, and then hopefully through the week if i get chance, or over the weekend, weather dependent ill drop the oil and filter. Parts have only come to £20 so not too bad at all.

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Was - Stg3 9-5 LPT Estate now MY04 ST220 :D:D:D

Yeah don't run semi in it mate

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.........Loving but still hating Saab's in equal amounts most days !!!

Got me some 5w30 fully synthetic today and new filter.... will drop it out over the weekend

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Was - Stg3 9-5 LPT Estate now MY04 ST220 :D:D:D

Well gave the old saab a bit of tlc over the weekend...................... i purchased a front & rear bumper and side skirts off an aero last year and never got round to fitting them..... so Saturday after i'd sorted the garden out i decided i'd start and fit the front bumper and new OS fog light................. here's the results....
download/file.php?mode=view&id=45157
I also met up with Al and picked up my 3" De-Cat ................... my word its a lot bigger than the standard one
Cannot wait to get it onto the car

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Was - Stg3 9-5 LPT Estate now MY04 ST220 :D:D:D

Plan eventually is to get the grill, wing mirrors, lower lip on the bumper and the wheels all done in gloss black! i'll also spray the window wiper arms on the headlights and the windscreen black as well as they have seen better days unfortunately. got a new wiper motor to fit for the ns headlight so will do that also over the next few days, and then tidy up the towbar as again, this has seen better days. Will be a busy month this month for sure, as the car will transform from an un loved heap, to a much loved stage 3 beast canny wait!

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Was - Stg3 9-5 LPT Estate now MY04 ST220 :D:D:D

Just spent a little bit too much on ebay in between feeding my 3 month old.............. so got a few bits coming in the next few days..... updates will be done as they arrive Weather dependent this weekend could possibly see me fitting the aero side skirts and rear bumper too

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Was - Stg3 9-5 LPT Estate now MY04 ST220 :D:D:D

Dont do the grill, mirrors or lower lip black- it'll look cheap fella!
Do the grill body color, mirrors etc stay as is.

Regarding wheels- instad of getting them painted - get your ass on Gumtree and find a cracking set for cheap on there. PCD is 5x110 I think for these.

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Current:
9-5 Aero Stage 1
Old:
9-5 HOT Aero Wagon
9-3SS Aero- 312BHP
9-3SS Vector- 110mm Drop

Is that a hint that your selling some???
Is it worth attempting the spraying myself do you think?? or take it to a body shop to do?

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Was - Stg3 9-5 LPT Estate now MY04 ST220 :D:D:D

I agree, black on silver doesnt look good, I did it & it looked pants.



So I did this insted.





A year & a half on it still looks tidy.

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MY00 9-5 Aero, Noobtune stage 3
www.johnossaab9-5.synthasite.com
The wee one of the dirty ½-dozen!